Kildare’s big stand is to be saluted.. maybe the GAA will do better now
KILDARE may have stood firm this week but whether they’ve scored a victory for the wider GAA community remains to be seen.
Just like water charges were not the most savage austerity measure imposed on the people of this country over the past decade, fixing the Kildare-mayo game for Croke Park is not the greatest GAA injustice of recent years either.
But both proved to be a tipping point and prompted much outcry, eventually resulting in climbdowns.
The Kildare fiasco fed into a creeping perception that the GAA has now become far too revenue-driven and more preoccupied by the lot of the stronger counties than the weak. It’s easy to see why.
You could start with the fact
Dublin have received €16.6million in games development money over the past decade while Cork, the nearest to them, received just under €1.2million.
Throw in Dublin footballers not playing an away game in the Championship since 2006, that they are set to have two home games in the upcoming Super 8 series while everyone else gets one – if their ground is fit for purpose.
That Laois were sent to play Dublin in Kilkenny in 2016 because Portlaoise was not up to it, before the Dubs opened their last two Championship campaigns in Portlaoise.
That Waterford hurlers were sent to Limerick and Thurles for home Championship games this year.
The Sky Sports deal, which rankles with a significant constituency.
A new hurling Championship structure that safeguards the top nine counties, particularly those in Munster, and limits the prospects of those below them making up any significant ground.
Similarly, the new football Championship structure for the top eight.
Selling out to the GPA.
The piecemeal efforts to resolve the club fixtures debacle, which dates back many years now.
The list goes on and it all adds up to a simmering tension which finally boiled over this week when Kildare, to their credit, shouted ‘Stop!’.
Maybe the extra revenue that would have been generated by a Croke Park double-header was not a factor in the decision and it was indeed purely an effort to allow those who wanted to attend the game to do so. But the additional cash was hardly a deterrent either.
Either way, compromising the fairness and integrity of a competition to swell the gates is not good enough.
The health and safety excuses trotted out were utterly ridiculous.
Where is the precedent for mayhem outside GAA grounds with ticketless fans?
It didn’t happen in Ennis for the recent Clare-limerick game with two counties sitting alongside each other.
So the idea that some supporters might make up to an eight-hour round trip from Mayo to Newbridge with no ticket for a fixture long since sold out
Compromising the fairness and integrity of a competition to swell the gates is not good enough
just to rise ructions outside St Conleth’s Park would be laughable if it wasn’t so insulting.
The hope has to be that Kildare’s actions will be reflected on in time as a watershed in how the GAA goes about its business.
It’s been suggested the GAA tidies up its stipulations to allow the CCCC to switch venues for qualifier games more freely, thereby averting headaches like this week’s in future.
There should be nothing of the sort and any such attempts should be vigorously opposed.
Let occasions like Saturday’s in Newbridge be the template going forward.
Instead of being a reason to close off a loophole, what Kildare did should be embraced as an opportunity for the GAA to do things differently and finally start distancing itself from the unflattering image it has projected.